Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

70

ANCIENT

ANECIUS

ANCIENT WALL. A wall built to be used, and in fact used, as a party-wall, for more than twenty years, by the express per mission and continuous acquiescence of the owners of the land on which it stands. 4 Duer, 53,63. ANCIENT WRITINGS. Wills,deeds, or other documents upwards of thirty years old. These are presumed to be genuine with out express proof, when coming from the proper custody. ANCIENTS. In English law. Gentle men of the inns of court and chancery. In Gray's Inn the society consists of benchers, ancients, barristers, and students under the bar; and here the ancients are of the oldest barristers. In the Middle Temple, those who had passed their readings used to be termed "ancients," The Inns of Chancery consist of ancients and students or clerks; from the ancients a principal or treasurer is chosen yearly. Wharton. A N C I E N T Y . Eldership; seniority. Used in the statute of Ireland, 14 Hen. VIII. Cowell. ANCILLARY. Aiding; auxiliary; at tendant upon; subordinate; a proceeding at tendant upon or which aids another proceed ing considered as principal. ANCILLARY ADMINISTRATION. When a decedent leaves property in a foreign state, (a state other than that of his domicile,) administration may be granted in such for eign state for the purpose of collecting the assets and paying the debts there, and bring ing the residue into the general administra tion. This is called "ancillary" (auxiliary, subordinate) administiation. ANCIPITIS USUS. Lat. In interna tional law. Of doubtful use; the use of which is doubtful; that may be used for a civil or peaceful, as well as military or warlike, pur pose. Gro. de Jure B. lib. 3, c. 1, § 5, subd. 3; 1 Kent, Comm. 140. ANDROCHIA. In old English law. A dairy-woman. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 87. ANDROGYNUS. An hermaphrodite. ANDROLEPSY. The taking by one na tion of the citizens or subjects of another, in order to compel the latter to do justice to the former. Wolmus, § 1164; Moll, de Jure Mar. 26. ANECIUS. L. Lat. Spelled also cetneeius, enitiiu, ceneas, eneyus. The eldest-born; th*

ANCIENT. Old; that which has existed from an indefinitely early period, or which by age alone has acquired certain rights or priv ileges accorded in view of long continuance. ANCIENT DEMESNE. Manors which in the time of William the Conqueror were in the hands of the crown, and are so record ed in the Domesday Book. Fitzh. Nat. Brev. 14, 56. Tenure in ancient demesne may be pleaded in abatement to an action of ejectment. 2 Burr. 1046. Also a species of copyhold, which differs, however, from common copyholds in certain privileges, but yet must be conveyed by sur render, according to the custom of the man or. There are three sorts: (1) Where the lands are held freely by the king's grant; (2) customary freeholds, which are held of a manor in ancient demesne, but not at the loid's will, although they are conveyed by surrender, or deed and admittance; (3) lands held by copy of court-roll at the lord's will, denominated copyholds of base tenure. ANCIENT HOUSE. One which has stood long enough to acquire an easement of suppoit against the adjoining land or build ing. 3 Kent, Comm. 437; 2 Washb. Real Prop. 74, 76. In England this term is applied to houses or buildings erected before the time of legal memory, (Cooke, Incl. Acts, 35,109,) that is, before the reign of Bichard I., although prac tically any house is an ancient messuage if it was erected before the time of living mem ory, and its origin cannot be proved to be modern. ANCIENT LIGHTS. Lights or win dows in a house, which have been used in their present state, without molestation or interruption, for twenty years, and up wards. To these the owner of the house has a right by prescription or occupancy, so that they cannot be obstructed or closed by the owner of the adjoining land which they may overlook. ANCIENT READINGS. Readings or lectures upon the ancient English statutes, formerly regarded as of great authority in law. Litt. § 481; Co. Litt. 280. ANCIENT RENT. The rent reserved at the time the lease was made, if the building was not then under lease. 2 Yern. 542. ANCIENT SERJEANT. In English law. The eldest of the queen's Serjeants.

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